Florida Panthers watch two-goal lead fade away in loss to Minnesota Wild
Carson Soucy made his way in front of the Florida Panthers’ net, squeezing his way between Mike Hoffman and Anton Stralman, as he took a pass from teammate Zach Parise.
The Minnesota Wild defenseman one-timed a shot that slipped past goaltender Chris Driedger and into the net early in the third period, the third goal Driedger gave up within a 15-minute span.
The Panthers, despite a slew of chances in the final 15 minutes, couldn’t recover.
Soucy’s goal sealed the Panthers’ 4-2 loss to the Wild Tuesday night at the BB&T Center.
The Wild added an empty-net goal with 1:01 left in the game.
The Panthers (13-9-5) are now 1-1-0 to start their franchise-record nine-game homestand. The Wild (13-11-4) have extended their point streak to 10 games (7-0-3) after opening the season 6-11-1.
And the loss came despite Florida outshooting Minnesota 46-26 and taking complete advantage in the first period against Wild rookie goaltender Kappo Kahkonen, who like Driedger was making his second start of the season.
Aleksander Barkov opened scoring with 10:04 left in the opening period with goal from the left circle on the Panthers’ second power play of the night. It was Barkov’s nine goal of the season and the 144th of his career — one shy of tying Stephen Weiss for fourth-most
Jonathan Huberdeau, who had the secondary assist on Barkov’s goal, doubled the Panthers’ lead a little more than four minutes later with his own goal from the left circle. It was Huberdeau’s 11th goal of the season. Frank Vatrano and Vincent Trocheck were credited with the assists.
“At that point,” coach Joel Quenneville said, “we were in a pretty good spot.”
But then the Wild started playing more aggressive.
And the Panthers began letting up on defense.
Driedger, who stopped all 27 shots that came his way against the Nashville Predators in his first NHL start on Saturday and saved the first eight shots on Tuesday, gave up two goals in a span of three-and-a-half minutes midway through the second period to tie the game.
Jason Zucker got the Wild on the board when he stole the puck from Hoffman in Minnesota’s defensive zone following a faceoff, raced down the ice unopposed and backhanded a head-on shot past Driedger with 10:34 left in the second period.
Shortly after the Wild killed off a Panthers power play, Mats Zuccarello directed a wrist shot from the right circle between two Panthers that went into the net for the equalizer with 7:04 left in the frame.
“We started to get sloppy at the blue lines,” defenseman MacKenzie Weegar said. “We know we can play offense, but it’s been the story this year. We’re giving up too many chances.”
And then, Soucy’s goal with 15:11 remaining put the Wild ahead for good.
Kahkonen saved the final 10 Panthers shots that came his way after the Wild took the lead — and the final 34 overall — to preserve the Minnesota win.
“It’s one of those games where you look back after and you get what you deserve,” Quenneville said. “We were playing a perfect game and then we got away from doing what was making us successful. A couple fancy plays and it’s 2-2. Missed some great looks that came back to haunt us.”
The Panthers have three days off before hosting the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday and the San Jose Sharks on Sunday.
“We have a long time to sit on this game,” Weegar said. “We’re going to regroup here this week and bounce back.”
This and that
▪ Trocheck’s secondary assist on Huberdeau’s first-period goal extends his point streak to four games. He has a goal and four assists in that span.
▪ Winger Denis Malgin, who opened the game on the second line with left wing Brett Connolly and center Vincent Trocheck, left Tuesday’s game in the second period.
This story was originally published December 3, 2019 at 9:32 PM.
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